The book, “The Americans” (1958) by Robert Frank is a great publication of 83 photographs taken of people in the 1950s. Frank’s goal was to capture America in its everyday lives. With this book Frank changed the worlds perception and art photograph. During a yearlong Fellowship Frank took photographs of people coast to coast. Photographs that were raw, and honest after WWII when there was a national pride in Americans. Frank was good at telling a tell with a visual poem. Many saw his work as bleak, containing photographs of people distracted and bored. His photographs were featured in the exhibition donated to the Cantors Art Center of Stanford. This exhibition contained more than 150 photos that were not in the book. I find Frank’s photographs artistic. He captured people during moments of their everyday lives. People just living their lives without the knowledge of knowing someone sees them or was even taking their photo. He saw them as art, different people of color, religion and cultures. Catching them at their most vulnerable state and creating visual art that has a unfinished story of someones life. He wanted to understand the whole country and explore individuals. To me that’s art, exploring something that your curious about, capturing it, and being able to tell a story that others can relate to. Frank was good at telling a story and sometimes used metaphors to better explain his work.
